Lannan vs. Utley

July 26, 2007.  After a sudden rise to the major leagues, John Lannan was making his big league debut at Philadelphia's Citizen Bank Park.  The young Lannan pitched as well as one could expect in a debut, letting up three runs in 4 innings.  In the bottom of the fifth, the nerves kicked in for Lannan.  With a perfect 2 for 2 Utley at bat, Lannan lost control of his pitch and hit Utley.  Utley strolled to first base and Ryan Howard stepped up.  Maybe it was a case of the jitters for Lannan, maybe it was the fact that he had let up a home run to Howard in his previous at-bat, or maybe it was fate, but Lannan plunked Howard too. Hunter Wendelstedt had seen enough and preceded to eject Lannan and then Manny Acta, who for one of the few times in his Washington career showed some fire at a bad call.



With his family watching from the stands, Lannan left the field in disgrace and watched the rest of the game from the locker room (Washington won 7-6).  The pitch that hit Utley damaged his wrist and forced him to have surgery, landing him on the DL for 31 days.  Lannan would not see Utley again until July 31st of the next year, yet first game Lannan faced Utley would become definitive of the relationship the two would share over the following years.

John Lannan has struggled to get no batter out like he has with Chase Utley over his career.  In his three years in the league, Lannan has faced only two batters, Chipper Jones and David Wright, more than Utley (25 PA).  In those battles, Lannan has mostly lost, allowing Utley to post a monstrous line of .476/.560/.810.  Last season, Lannan seemed intimidated and overmatched by Utley at times and got away from what worked for him in 2008.  I watched through some of Lannan's at-bats against Utley and then looked through the pitchF/X and gameday data to determine what worked against Utley and what the problems were.


When Lannan was Successful:  Lannan gave Utley nothing but scraps in the strikezone.  He pounded Utley inside and made good use his curveball.  His slider never came close to the strikezone, but passed by the far corner of the plate in order to entice Utley to swing.  Balls that were thrown outside got fouled off, balls that were low and away became ground balls.

Lannan's only strikeout vs. Utley last year came when he attacked him inside

Image from MLBGameday

When Utley was Successful:  Lannan left sliders hanging or threw fastballs too high in the strikezone.  Utley was able to capitalize off of his mistakes nearly every single time.  Lannan tried to get too fine and nibbled around the strikezone.  Utley does not even swing at the curve, he just waits for Lannan to slip up with the fastball or slider.  Both of Utley's home runs off of Lannan come off of pitches right down the pipe.

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As NL East rivals, Lannan's and Utley's paths are sure to cross numerous times in the future.  In fact, Lannan will be facing Utley on opening day after he was officially handed the opening day gig by Manager Riggleman today.  Facing Utley is no easy task for any pitcher, but for John Lannan in particular it is important that he goes inside often with Utley.  His slider can be a good pitch against lefties, but he has to be weary of their placement as Utley feasts on sliders low and away in the strikezone.  The ironic part of John Lannan ejection story is that, unlike Utley, he has had success in pitching against Ryan Howard, the other guy he hit that day (.182/.250/.364) and also a lefty.  As they are two completely different types of hitters, it would be useless to attempt to look at Howard's at-bats for a way to attack Utley, but it would be interesting none-the-less.